1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pixel defect correction device with a function of detecting and compensating for a defective pixel in a solid state imaging device, such as a CCD or a CMOS sensor, an imaging apparatus, a pixel defect correction method, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, it is known that a defective pixel is generated in a solid state imaging device, such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensor.
In such a solid state imaging device, it is known that a defective pixel, which outputs an abnormal imaging signal, is generated due to a local crystal defect of a semiconductor device and the like and this causes deterioration of the image quality.
Examples of the defective pixel include a black defective pixel and a white defective pixel.
That is, pixel defects of a solid state imaging device include a white defect, which is caused by addition of a predetermined amount of electric charges to the normal signal level, and a black defect, by which the signal level drops at a predetermined rate or a signal level around zero is output all the time.
Since these defects cause deterioration of the image quality at the time of image output, various kinds of defect detection and correction methods have been proposed (for example, see JP-A-2005-318383 and JP-A-2008-154276).
In general, defect correction for a pixel determined to be defective is realized by calculating a value, which replaces the value of the defective pixel, and replacing the value of the defective pixel with the calculated value.
The method of calculating a correction value may be realized by detecting the edge around the defective pixel and using the average value of two pixels, which are located in the edge direction with the defective pixel interposed therebetween, in order to adaptively correspond to an imaged image.